A very finely painted and rare Ming Dynasty ko-sometsuke dish decorated in rich tones of underglaze cobalt blue with an allegorical scene of "Youth & Old Age" featuring an old woman sheltering a girl under a parasol, with an ancient gnarled and windblown pine in the background and a young pine growing at its base, circa 1625
Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, China
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
Tianqi period (1621-1627)
Ko-sometsuke (Old Blue-and-White) made for the Japanese market
MEASUREMENTS
19.0cm diameter
MARK
Boldly marked on the base with spurious Chenghua mark reading "Made in the Era of Ch'eng-hua, 1465-1487)
CONDITION
Elegant, old kintsugi (gold) seal to a fine hairline at 5 o'clock.
Expected minor mushikui glaze flakes at edges.
DESCRIPTION
The finely pottery circular dish extremely well painted with an allegorical scene of "Youth & Old Age" featuring an old woman in a finely drawn kimono sheltering a young beauty beneath a wide parasol, the old woman looking back; the young girl looking forward, behind them an ancient gnarled & windblown pine with a young pine growing at its base representative of the same theme, the rim encircled with a zigzag pattern, the reverse painted with a spurious and boldly drawn Chenghua mark. A rare and oft misunderstood pattern, erroneously described as a 'Romantic meeting' between lovers in Christie's The Peony Pavilion Collection catalogue.
STORAGE
With a traditional Japanese paulownia wood storage box and ribbon tie.
A Ming Dynasty ko-sometsuke dish allegorical of Youth & Old Age, Tianqi c1625
PRICE UPON REQUEST
For more information, please contact
BARASET HOUSE FINE ART
416 666 6295
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COMPARABLE EXAMPLES
Two similar, but likely slightly later, dishes illustrated in Masahiko Kawahara Ko-sometsuke (Kyoto Shoin Co Ltd, Japan) 1977, images 598 and 599, titled 'Plate, round, with design of two persons, one carrying an umbrella, under a pine tree with other foliage in the foreground'.
Three variations, also likely slightly later, sold at Christie's (London) 12 June 1989, The Peony Pavilion Collection: Chinese Tea Ceramics For Japan (c.1580-1650), lots 276, 277, 278; titled 'A blue and white serving plate, Tianqi'.